Silva, SUSD board clash at meeting

After-school deal awarded to YMCA

STOCKTON - Mayor Anthony Silva expressed displeasure and was repeatedly asked to step away from the podium Tuesday after the Stockton Unified School District chose not to award contracts for after-school programs to the former Boys & Girls Club.

STOCKTON - Mayor Anthony Silva expressed displeasure and was repeatedly asked to step away from the podium Tuesday after the Stockton Unified School District chose not to award contracts for after-school programs to the former Boys & Girls Club.

The school board voted unanimously to award contracts for after-school programs to the YMCA and another organization headed by Lavelle Hawkins, an Edison High School graduate who spent six years in the National Football League. Silva, who once headed the Boys & Girls Club, now known as the Kids' Club, said his former organization was best suited to provide after-school programs, even after the organization lost its charter membership with the Boys & Girls Club of American amid controversy in 2013.

"The Kids' Club has been running those after-school programs for eight years, and the organization has been around for nearly 51 years now," Silva said. "The issues really aren't about the kids. The issues are adult issues that are political in nature."

Superintendent Steve Lowder said Silva spoke over his three-minute allotment and touched on a number of topics, including his feelings about the contracts for after-school programs and that the best superintendent the district had was Jack McLaughlin, who worked when Silva was on the school board.

"The three minutes go by pretty quickly, especially if people get kind of emotional," Lowder said.

School board President Kathy Garcia told Silva three times that his time was up, Lowder said, and "at the third try, he said, 'I only have one more page to read.' "

At that point, Lowder said, SUSD Police Chief Bryon Gustafson placed his hand on Silva's shoulder and moved the microphone away from him. Silva then left the podium.

"I think it was a fine meeting," Gustafson said. "It was democracy in action. It was nothing criminal or anything of that nature - just people who had a lot to say and might not have said it as quickly as one would hope in front of a large audience given our time limits."

Trustee Sal Ramirez said Silva was not physically removed from the podium.

"He wasn't removed by anybody," Ramirez said. "He just walked away."

Staff writer Barbara Zumwalt contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Jason Anderson at (209) 546-8279 or janderson@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/crimeblog and on Twitter @stockton911.